She has travelled to this week’s Track Cycling World Championships in Minsk, Belarus, aiming to add to the three world titles in various events she has won in the past two years.

Those titles were a prelude to team pursuit and omnium golds at London 2012 and now she is fired up for more success in the first world championships in the long run up to the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games of 2016.

“Wendy Houvenaghel was on our team last year and she was aged 36 – so I hope to get stronger and better.”

Trott won her post-London 2012 race in Glasgow last November, but the intense focus placed on her at a low-key meeting took her by surprise and gave her a taste of the pressure heaped on the likes of Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton.

With Pendleton retired and six-time Olympic champion Hoy taking a break to consider his future, Trott and her boyfriend Jason Kenny are the Team GB figureheads in Minsk along with Ed Clancy.

The 16-rider squad includes six Olympic champions and six riders making their debuts at senior world level.

Trott hopes to extend Britain’s superb run in the three-woman 3km team pursuit with a fifth title in six years.

Another big Team GB hope is Elinor Barker, an 18-year-old A-Level student from Cardiff.

Barker has had to balance her training with school work, and said: “I think my grades are slipping a little bit.

‘‘But I am trying my hardest to keep them up there, as well as doing my best in cycling.”